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Medical Software Implementation Best Practices

Medical software implementation should be relatively easy. Someone would recognize a need, find the best software to address that need, and everyone would be on the same page from the beginning of the implementation process to the end. Unfortunately, any new medical software implementation is likely to incur a few hiccups along the way. For this reason, a best practice is to assign a project champion that can control the process.

Where Does Medical Software Implementation Go Wrong?

Medical software aims to automate office work-flows and optimize various practice tasks, including those related to billing, record keeping, and patient care. The best medical software will meet practice-specific needs, enabling better patient outcomes, lower administrative costs, fewer errors, and full compliance. However, problems can arise if the wrong software is chosen, employees and patients aren’t fully on board, the cost of use is deemed to be too expensive, a technical issue arises, or the practice’s employees aren’t fully trained on the new software. All of these challenges can derail a medical software program implementation project, which is why a project champion is so paramount to a practice’s success.

What Does a Project Champion Do and Why Do You Need One?

It can be hard to classify or define a project champion. An article published in the Project Management Journal defined a project champion as “a person within the organization who uses power entrepreneurially to enhance project success.” This is a person who is not only knowledgeable about the project and has some power to ensure the project’s success, but also someone who is passionate about it and will do whatever possible to ensure the project gets done.

Who Should Be the Project Champion?

The project champion may not be the same person throughout the entire implementation. For example, a lower-level employee may come up with the idea for the project and may even begin the process of making the case to senior management. However, because of the limitations of the role or the politics necessary to get the project off the ground, the role of project champion may be assumed by someone else who can get the project over the finish line.

What is a Project Champion?

A project champion is not a project manager, although he or she can be, depending on his or her ability to go beyond day-to-day operations and be an advocate for the project to stakeholders and others financing the project and making decisions. A project champion is a cheerleader for the medical software implementation project, someone who aims to boost the morale of the team, and a liaison between leadership, stakeholders, the project management team, and everyone else involved.

Get Help with Your Project

From the initial planning phase where the case is being made for the medical billing software programs or electronic health records software to later phases where user adoption and ongoing management are concerned, a project champion is a necessary role someone in the organization must fill. Contact us today if you are a project champion looking for a proven medical software vendor that can help you save time, money, and hassle.